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‘Yara! Yala! yara! shouted a Saudi. There are arms dealers, repairmen, soldiers and gun enthusiasts; tanks, assault rifles, mortars and drones. Jets perform overhead aerobatics and a band plays Maroon 5. A Chinese robot dog rammed into a representative. Welcome to the United Arab Emirates International Defense Exhibition. Business is booming. In the chamber, Eric Prince was speaking with the UAE President, Mohamed bin Zayed. People were taking pictures of MBZ, smiling in his dark robe and aviator sunglasses, but no one seemed to recognize Prince. He is a former Navy SEAL who sold mercenaries to Americans in Iraq, trained Somalis to fight piracy in the Gulf of Aden and allegedly violated arms-trafficking laws by sending weaponized agricultural aircraft to Libya. He left the United States for the United Arab Emirates in 2007 after some of his mercenaries killed 17 Iraqi civilians. He and MBZ became friends, they broke up, and now they’re close again. Prince makes deals: he’s valuable.
Every exhibitor at the show has a booth where they display their weapons. The gun is mounted on the counter, like an iPad in John Lewis. You can pick them up, but they are tied by a thin string. People pull back the bolt and pull the trigger over and over again. There is a shooting range outside the venue for buyers to test guns correctly. Small companies do business in the back of their booth, complete with a table, some chairs, and a bowl of mints. Large companies have two floors of private meeting rooms, and some have buffets. Most salesmen are useless. An unlucky couple at Norinco, a Chinese defense industry company, said they had never heard of microchips, and one Turk couldn’t remember who his clients were. ‘I just sold it. I don’t ask these questions. Three salesmen of a British company sat together. A man stands up and bends down to pick up something. Another slapped his ass. Everyone laughed. On one occasion, Nicola Bandini, the Italian chief executive of the Emirati company Lahab Light Ammunition, snapped at his incompetent colleagues who had trouble transporting weapons: “I’ll take my guns to the airport in my car.” !” He struck the palm of the other with the back of one hand. The team looked desperate.
Some businesses manage to get past these salesmen. Everyone wants the 155mm howitzer, an artillery ammunition. Countries have handed over stocks to Ukraine, which need to be replenished again. A Czech manufacturer said they weren’t fast enough. Manufacturers from war-neutral countries also profited. Bulgarians don’t sell directly to Ukraine because their government is against it, so they sell to Ukrainian allies who can do whatever they want with these weapons. A Korean manufacturer sells 155 and ammunition compatible with Western tanks in Ukraine. Customers can ship guns purchased elsewhere to Ukraine and replenish their own stocks from South Korea.
Russian companies exhibited in a small pavilion away from the conference hall. A Turkish Bayraktar drone and a U.S. Patriot missile system are on display nearby. The Patriot was originally used in Iraq to destroy Saddam Hussein’s Soviet Scud missiles. Russia has replaced Scud missiles with Iskander ballistic missiles and uses Iskander missiles in Ukraine. The US has promised Ukraine to shoot it down using the Patriot system. “We didn’t have any conflict. We just looked at each other strangely,” said a U.S. soldier standing next to the Patriot. One Ukrainian exhibitor said their embassy paid to make sure the Russians were out of the way, but the Russian booth remained busy. Algerian generals are briefed on the S-400 surface-to-air system, Chinese naval officers inspect T-90 tanks, and everyone else goes crazy over Kalashnikovs. AK-12, AK-19, AK-15, AK – anything. They posed for pictures, grinning.
‘How many? ‘ asked a Bangladeshi soldier in front of the crowd, pointing to a plastic model of an Ilyushin transport plane. “$150 million,” said the salesman. The Bangladeshi man is Lieutenant General Waker-uz-Zaman. He said Russia made “very good hardware” and he did not want the Bangladeshi army to depend on one country for equipment. Maintaining it all is difficult and some equipment is not compatible with others, but he thinks it is the best option for Bangladesh. A Pakistani man wearing Gucci sunglasses and carrying an AK-12 introduces himself at the Russian pavilion. He wears a G-Shock watch and looks like a fool. He found out I was a reporter and said I should interview him. He said he was 25 years old, named Mohammad, and sold weapons to special forces around the world. He wanted to introduce me to his friends. They were on board a Pakistani warship moored at the pier. On deck, we sat in muddy white canvas armchairs and ate half-packs of salted peanuts. There were two helicopter pilots and personnel from the UAE Ministry of Defense. Mohammad tried to join the conversation, but they were not interested. They are not his friends.
As we left the boat, Mohammed said he was staying in one of the largest mansions in Dubai. Penthouse. He said he could throw a party for me if I wanted to. He’s making golden guns for politicians. He has a friend who is the prime minister. He will give him one. I don’t know if I believe him. In the end, deals worth £5bn were signed at the arms show. War is good news here. Obviously, these guys keep us safe.
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